In my Tuesday newspaper column I mentioned that Tom Hammond is no lock for the NFL Network play-by-play gig, and that the network might be looking for a bigger-name splash.

Well . . . I am told by a reliable spy that one name on the wish list for the job is as big a name as it gets in play-by-play: Al Michaels, who would have to add the Thursday night games to his existing NBC slate.

That would be interesting. It also would be a little depressing for Hammond, who had hoped to get the Sunday night job on NBC before Michaels defected from ESPN/ABC.

Michaels would be fine. So would Hammond.

But if you're the NFL Network why not go after a quality younger announcer and groom him/her as your own play-by-play voice?

Now that NFL Network is done with the two-year experiment of Bryant Gumbel as play-by-play man, where will the league's official cable channel turn?

Neil Best of Newsday reports that the NFL could be looking to add a huge name: Al Michaels.

Michaels, who for three decades has been among America's best-known play-by-play voices, would lend instant credibility to NFL Network, which has struggled to find an audience. If the league could get Michaels, it would be thrilled.

But could the league get him? It would be a tough schedule for Michaels, who would have to do double duty for seven weeks, working NFL Network Thursday and NBC Sunday. And Michaels isn't crazy about working on cable TV -- especially cable TV that not every cable subscriber gets.

Still, if the NFL is willing to fork over enough dough -- maybe $500,000 a game or so? -- I could see this happening.

I don't know, but I for one am tired of this incestuous talking head, announcing gene pool. I am mortally tired of the same faces and the same BS. Not many people will agree, but I want some personalities like Dan Meredith, Alex Karras and even Ted Leitner. Dennis was a disaster, Rome is on an ego trip. I'll take Al Michaels, if they'll give me a guy who might, given the right circumstances, puke on his shoes.